The Innomentarium team was strengthened by an experienced expert this autumn. Timo Liimatainen, a hospital physicist, university lecturer and PhD who works at the University of Oulu and University Hospital, has started working at Innomentarium as an expert in medical physics.
Liimatainen, who has made a career in medical physics and related research, started in his new role at Innomentarium at the beginning of September. He has built his career in the field since 2003 when he started his studies in medical physics at the University of Kuopio. Liimatainen earned his PhD in 2007, after which he went to the University of Minnesota as a postdoctoral researcher to gain international work experience. When he returned to Finland, he founded a cardiac imaging research group at the A.I. Virtanen Institute, a research institute located at the University of Kuopio.
“In 2017, I graduated as a medical physicist. Today, I work full time at the University of Oulu as a university researcher and as a medical physicist at the Oulu University Hospital. My research activities have mainly focused on MRI imaging,” says Liimatainen.
“In addition to my day job, I started as a part-time expert on Innomentarium’s expert team this autumn,” he continues.
Liimatainen’s work consist mainly of tasks requiring expertise related to medical physics. Liimatainen was already familiar with the Innomentarium company; a few years ago, he and his team performed an image quality validation for the company’s FeniX product, which is a digitising solution for mammography equipment. He has carried out similar research on a variety of medical imaging applications.
“The study was carried out by comparing equipment that was updated with Innomentarium’s solution and its image quality with an equivalent digital mammogram device already on the market. The work compared image quality phantom measurements, image uniformity at five different dose levels, image persistence, auto exposure function and dynamic quantum efficiency,” Liimatainen says in recalling the validation which took place a few years ago.
“The digitalisation of old equipment is very demanding as a product development project because it requires extensive technical expertise as well as knowledge of clinical patient work. However, the results were very good and the solution fully satisfies the requirements set for imaging equipment to produce high-quality images. We are talking about convincing and powerful Finnish research and development,” he continues.
Liimatainen says that he is excited about his new challenges at Innomentarium. He says the most interesting tasks of his work is related to the field of imaging, in which he can both develop his own expertise and support Innomentarium’s growth as a company.
“My own background naturally provides a good background for my work, but it is great to be able to expand my expertise in medical imaging and X-ray equipment even further into Innomentarium’s skilled team,” he says.
“I am also really excited about the opportunity to support and promote Finnish business; I feel like I can make a real contribution to Innomentarium’s growth and success in the future. This also motivates me in my new job, so I look forward to the future as an employee of Innomentarium,” Liimatainen concludes.
Welcome to the Innomentarium team, Timo!
